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Burrowing Owl

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Range/Habitat: The Burrowing Owl can be found in western North America in open country from southern Canada to Mexico, Florida and in parts of the Caribbean and Central and South America. This species lives in dry open rolling hills, grasslands, deserts and open bare ground with gullies and arroyos.

Threats: Burrowing Owl numbers have been on the decline for the past 50 years. Rapid urbanization and agricultural growth have dramatically decreased its suitable habitat. Populations are also declining due to widespread elimination of burrowing rodents, notably prairie dogs and ground squirrels.

What TNC is Doing: Wings of the Americas’ Prairie Wings initiative aims to protect critical habitat for the grassland birds of the western Great Plains. The Conservancy has nearly completed efforts to identify the places that must be protected to maintain viable populations and we will soon begin working with government agencies and other conservation groups to do so.

Illustrations by David Allen Sibley from The National Audubon Society: The Sibley Guide to Birds published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. Copyright © 2000 by Chanticleer Press and David Allen Sibley. No illustrations may be copied, reproduced, or reused without the express written permission of the copyright holders.